Our Household Name Makes a Clean Sweep

No less than 48 hours after my Robot-naming marathon, (remember Botabing?), I landed another robot naming project - this time from Home Robots in Mountain View, CA who needed a new name for their company and furturistic product. Fast forward three weeks... they selected incredibly cool names. We can't let the cat out of the vacuum cleaner bag until September when they launch (and we quadruple our fees). Thanks to Steve Manning at Igor for giving us the ammo to help the client evaluate and select the best name. And to Cori Constantine and Anthony Shore of Landor, for being our cheerleaders.

Namer Convention at Eat My Words

Eat My Words and Igor are hosting a namer party/reunion/gossip fest at the Eat My Words party pad next week. We invited every namer in the Bay Area, and just about all of them are converging here to tell everyone how successful they are. In addition to the professional namers, a professional mind-reader will mingle with the guests and steal their ideas for me and the Bad Boys of Igor, since we don't have any ideas of our own. We're also spiking drinks with truth serum (more commonly known as sodium pentothal), to get namers to spill their guts and reveal closely guarded patented processes.

THE NAMERS
Abnu, Wordlab
Alexandra Watkins, Eat My Words
Alton Wright, Wright Brands
Amy Sherman
Andrea Michaels, Acme Naming
Anthony Shore, Landor
Aaron Hall, Catchword
Beth Gerber, Gerber Creative
Burt Alper, Catchword
Carol Miller, Red Pentameter
Daniel Edelstein
Eunice Park, Landor
Dave Hurlbert
Deborah Schatten, Brandese
Frank Binney
Jay Jurisich, Igor
Jonathan Littman, Simmer Branding Studio
Lisa Awrey
Marc Hershon, Simmer Branding Studio
Maria Cypher, Catchword
Mark Gunnion, Mark Gunnion Names
Marty Neumeier, Neutron LLC
Nan Budinger, Metaphor
Nancy Friedman, Wordworking
Reed Kirk Rahlmann
Sandra Lee Messer
Shannon De Jong
Steve Cecil, Wherewords
Steve Manning, Igor
Steve Price, Lexicon
Susan Manning
Susan Carp, Imagineering
Tate Linden, Stokefire

Stay tuned for a full report...

Zenergize!

"Quench your body & mind," is the new tagline wecreated for Zenergize "drinkable nutrition" fizzy drink tablets. Out of 50+ taglines to choose from, the client picked our favorite. We love when that happens.

Eat My Words FFS Party Recap

The second annual Eat My Words office party bash after the Fancy Food Show was a blast. I lost count after 60 people and that was just downstairs. There were cool people here from just about every firm in town including clients and friends from Landor, Charles Chocolates, Zeist, Igor, Deutsch Design Works, Brand Engine, Salt Branding, Dine Marketing, Mani Pedi, and Gloria's Gourmet Cookies. Plus I had my usual assortment of random guests, recruited by me and partner in crime, Cici, on Sunday and Monday at the Show. More fun party pix here. Thanks to everyone who came, especially Joyce from Charles Chocolates who brought treats. Same time, next year.

Fun New Mani Pedi product names

I can finally let the cat out of the bag on the new line of Mani Pedi hand and foot care products that we named. (In case you are wondering, yes, those are MY manicured feet in the photo - Yasawa Islands, Fiji, circa 2003.) But back to the products, launching nationally later this year, the super cheeky names include:


HARDER, FASTER
fast-drying top coat

SMELL MY FEET
anti-fungal foot spray

PEPPERMINT PEDI
exfoliating sugar scrub

FIRM ALLY
hand firming serum

DIM SUM
sunscreen for hands

BACT STABBER
anti-bacterial hand gel

NIP CHIP
nail polish protector

CAFÉ AU CLAY
coffee-scented mask

CALLUS MALICE
callus remover gel

FOOT WORSHIP
intensive foot cream

HONEY, I’M PARCHED
intensive hand cream

SOAP IN A BOTTLE
liquid hand soap

SILK THAI
cuticle softener

These names practically flew through legal, which is remarkable considering how saturated this category is. I know I've said it before, but in case you missed it, the trademark attorney, Angela Wilcox of Vanek, Vickers & Masini in Chicago said, “You should be very excited about these results -- I NEVER see a success ratio like this for full legal screenings!!”